


Act 1 - Medium Grey

by VNVdarkangel



Series: The achromatic case [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Psycho-Pass
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe, Crime Fighting, F/F, Sybil System (Psycho-Pass)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 17,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22084630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VNVdarkangel/pseuds/VNVdarkangel
Summary: A wave of crime shakes the MWPSB. The culprit unidentified and unseen in public areas.Unseen by Sybil, its' victims the only trace, a stalker has made the city its' hunting ground.
Relationships: Minami Kotori/Sonoda Umi
Series: The achromatic case [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607551
Comments: 71
Kudos: 35





	1. Stalker in the city

**Author's Note:**

> An attempt at an AU set in a known universe. I hope I can do both justice.
> 
> (tags will change as the story progresses)

Her steps echoed sharply in the spacious hallway of the top office floor of the MWPSB.

Getting called to the chief, she thought, is never a good sign.

Last time it was to tell her that she was going on therapeutic leave.  
And the time before that to tell her that her division was going to be disbanded and she herself placed on in the desk staff.

All in all, getting called to the chief was never a good sign.

Arriving at the chiefs’ office, she took a deep breath before she stepped into the scanner field and the doors, after a minuscule delay, opened.

* * *

“Ahh, Miss Ayase. Do sit down.”, chief Kasei welcomed her, sitting at her desk.

She wants something, Eli thought as she sat down in a chair, way too friendly.

“You are no doubt aware of the recent wave of acts of crime targeting younger women?”

She was aware. As the reports filed across her desk, it took all her self-control not to cloud up.

“I am. Given the MO varies somewhat and the area and times sometimes intersect, it is probably a collection of people committing these acts.”, she stated matter-of-factly.

“And you are also aware that all locations were out of range of any street scanners?”

“Yes.”

“And that follow-up investigation by the CID turned up no heightened area stress except localised to where the victims were found?”

“Yes.”

“Your conclusion?”

“Well…”, Eli had not envisioned this scenario,” Either the act does not register as stress by the perpetrator or the area where the act is committed is shielded. Or a fake scan is used.”

“All plausible except for the last one. We saw to that some years ago.”

Eli raised an eyebrow.

Chief Kasei sighed.

“We had a situation where we found technology that could copy a healthy Psycho-Pass and pass that one to the semantic scanners instead of the users own. Division 1 figured that out. We had the Sybil system modified to detect copied scans since then. But frankly, it was not an ideal situation.”

“I see.”

The chief typed something on her keyboard and a number of personnel files appeared.

“To the reason I called you here: I’m creating a special division to deal with this situation, and I want you to head it. Both Divisions 1 and 2 have other cases they are working on and Division 3 is not staffed enough so I’m creating one more. Division L.”

She pointed at the opened files.

“These are the rest of your team. You’ll have two lieutenants and a number of enforcers working under you. We’ve assigned two lab-techs too. One of them is a prior victim the one of the enforcers rescued while still a civilian. I’ll send these files to you when you leave so you can study them while logistics finished with your office spaces.”

“I understand. Anything else?”, she stood up.

“Just one thing. We need to find who is doing this and learn how they can avoid the scanners. The coverage in all areas is excellent, so we are having a hard time figuring out how they can commit these crimes and still not register with Sybil.”

“I see. I’ll review the material as soon as I have it.”

“Good. Thank you. You can go.”

With that the doors opened again. The meeting was over. Inspector Eli Ayase left the room, feeling curious as to what people she’d been assigned to work with. Her wristcom signalled that the files had been received and she continued toward the elevator and in extension the garage in order to head home.

She wanted to read the files in the comfort of her home, maybe rotate it with some meditation for stress relief. Reading enforcers background information always got under her skin so any relief would be welcome.


	2. When the bough breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eli looks over the files of her team

“What a very interesting bunch of people.” Eli mused to no one in particular.

A floating bear in her peripherical vision sat down in mid-air and said:

“How so?”

“Huh? Oh it’s you. All data in these files are confidential, so do not keep a record of their contents.”, she commanded her home avatar.

“Of course. Visual worm program running to erase visual information from log.”

“Good. And pause autonomy routines while I’m reading.”

“A-ok!”, the bear responded and fell silent. Its image repeating an idle animation.

She’d done a quick scan as soon as she got the files and was on her way home, but reclining in her chair with a drink and the environment holo turned off, using the wall as a gigantic screen, was more comfortable than to squint at the wristcom display.

“What an interesting bunch of people.”, she repeated as she read the files.

First off, she had her two lieutenants: Nozomi Toujou and Honoka Kousaka.

Both had aptitude scores that had given them a wide range of career choices and they had selected the MWPSB and the CID. Toujou apparently was also qualified as a councillor and therapist. Kousaka was an odd one: Apart from having a very low crime coefficient for her position, her psycho-pass showed very little variation over time, remaining in the clear colours for most of her life. There were a few times it had clouded, but those had lasted only a few days and gone away without therapy or drugs. Was she a constantly happy person or one that could deflect the stresses of day to day life?

Second came the analysts: Kotori Minami and Hanayo Koizumi.

Minami had been a successful fashion designer when she’d been attacked on her way home, permanently tainting her crime coefficient and hue. Luckily for her, a Umi Sonoda had stepped in and rescued her, but the damage had been done, though probably she fared better than what could have been expected. Eli found it difficult to imagine the situation and that Minami, of her own will had decided she wanted to live after what had happened. Minami had been classified as a latent criminal, and based on her sheer force of will alone had been offered a position in the CIDs analysis department. She still attended therapy, but it made no difference to Sybil. She was where she would stay.

Koizumi was a different case altogether. No trauma, no stressful situations in her past. While her crime coefficient had remained within limits, her hue had been jumping around all over the scale. Her aptitude scores had put her in the position of a researcher and factual expert, but real-life exposure to these environments had shown that she did not work well in crowds. Her stress levels jumped up at an alarming rate. So, she’d been reassigned by Sybil to an AV analyst position within the CID but handled most of her communication through text and sometimes video. Direct meetings were exceedingly rare. Her crime coefficient never entered the red-zone, but stress and her did not match well.

 _She’ll be a tough one to crack_ , Eli thought, _why did the chief assign her to me?_

Next were the enforcers.

In difference to many of her follow inspectors, Eli didn’t see them as dogs of war, a necessary evil of the job and a shield for the inspectors. She saw them as people out on their luck that had gotten stuck with high crime coefficients but had chosen to accept their fate and pay back what society had spent on them instead of burdening it more by being incarcerated. Eli knew this was an idealistic view of the enforcer’s motives, but all had avoided going completely over the line so that they would have been executed on the spot.

As she browsed the names one particularly caught her interest.

Umi Sonoda.

Looking at her file, she understood why.

Not only had she been the one that had saved Kotori Minami, but she’d also been a national champion in several sports disciplines, namely martial arts and archery. Both activities that required high mental discipline. Something that Sonoda clearly possessed, along with a very strong understanding of right and wrong. So how did she end up as an enforcer? As Eli kept reading both her understanding and a kind of admiration for the metal faculties Sonoda possessed, increased. Reading the report Eli gathered that Sonoda had been on her way home from a training session when she had heard a cry for help and had immediately rushed to the victim’s aid. She had engaged the attacker and through a set of circumstances, most likely an elevated adrenalin production and stress, killed the perpetrator. When Division 3 had arrived on the scene she had been sitting a meditative pose as enforcers and inspectors alike had trained their dominators on her, resulting in a kill order. Sonoda apparently had accepted her fate and offered no resistance or chase and would have been eliminated if not for an unexpected factor: The victim.

Minami that had stood her ground in front of Sonoda and pleaded for her life asking for the measurement to be redone, stating that Sonoda had saved her life. Thankfully, the inspector on call had made the right decision to listen to Minami and, surprisingly, Sonoda’s crime coefficient had been steadily decreasing to a latent level with Sybil reassessing her judgement. Both Sonoda and Minami had been taken in without any shots fired. Quite unique given the situation.

Rin Hoshizora was a completely different story. From what Eli could see, she’d been in and out of therapy for most of her life, having been bullied in school for her boyish looks and preference towards women since an early age. According to the Sybil files, she’d been skirting the edge of the line until an event that sounded like a hazing gone terribly wrong had caused her to go over, apparently beating one of her bullies with a bat until she was able to be retrained. Enforcement had been swift, and she’d been in institutionalized ever since. Physical exercise in combination with therapy had made her stable but still over the threshold. She had the physique of a national level athlete, but mentally she’d never managed to escape her own nightmares of identity. She was still in therapy of her own choice.

 _She’d make an excellent scout, small fast and agile_ , Eli thought. _Good to have on the field_.

As Eli read the file of Maki Nishikino she felt astonishment. Here was a woman that had had it all, a good family, high intelligence, a clear future, curtesy of Sybil, and all the advantages anyone could ask for. Yet here she was, an enforcer. Reading Nishikinos file and pulling up referenced materials Eli started to get a picture of where it had all gone wrong. Nishikino had been too tightly wound from the start with expectations from family, legacy and Sybil slowly internalizing all emotional investment in her world. This had been a ticking time-bomb of emotional stress. Being on the path of a doctor, both from her family and Sybil had seemed the right way, until by no fault of her own she’d lost a patient. The medical board had absolved her of any wrongdoing, but it had not mattered, Nishikinos facade had begun to crumble. The next entry listed her arrest at an unlicensed music establishment with a hue that was beginning to cloud. The arrest had it seemed led to her family curtailing her privileges so that she was either working or undergoing therapy. The therapist had informed Nishikino’s parents that the removal of music privileges was advertently influencing the result of the therapy but they had ignored the advice. One day Nishikino had snapped and destroyed the room where her priced piano had been and escaped the family mansion only to be picked up by a random check and arrested by paralyser.

The chief had herself made a deal, something highly irregular in and of itself, but within her rights, with Maki Nishikino that gave the woman a career where she would be able to use her intelligence and drive, while still having access to a piano in her quarters. All this under the condition that she’d become an enforcer and part-time analyst. Nishikino, being bright, had accepted. She’d been an extra pair of hands for the other divisions, but this would be her first permanent posting.

Nico Yazawa was everything Maki Nischikino was not apart from a few similarities: her strong connection to music and being headstrong.

Yazawa came from a low-income background where her father had been killed in a workplace accident when she was still in grade school. She’d become an extra mother for her siblings while her mother took extra work to provide for the family. This had led Nico in her collage years to enter the lucrative underground music scene. Something associated with a high-risk for hue clouding. While her stage personality was sweetness itself, the frustration and anger over the situation was something that Yazawa had internalized, clouding her hue even more and slowly raising her crime coefficient. The final push into the latent criminal zone had come when a rival had attacked her before a performance and broken her leg. Nico had retaliated with all the penned-up anger and beaten down her assailant, despite the obvious pain. The arriving squad from the CID had paralysed her while she was restrained by the event staff. The report mentioned nothing about what had happened to her attacker.

Yazawa’s injury had healed but she maintained a limp that was probably psychological. The therapy had not yet been able to crack it.

“What an interesting bunch of people “, Eli said again as she closed the files. As she did her avatar sprang back to life.

“Your stress levels have gone up since the last measurement. Would you like a medical supplement or some relaxing music to ease your mind?

Reading enforcers stories always gets to me, Eli thought.

“Give me the fall of rain and change the environment to a meadow under a starlit sky. Constellation pattern for central Russia.”

“You got it.” The avatar responded in its bright timbre as the changes took place. It dimmed in brightness and seemed to fall asleep at the foot of her chair.

Eli closed her eyes, listening to the relaxing tapper of rain. She fell asleep shortly after.


	3. The inspectors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eli meets her two subordinates

A chime interrupted her dreamless sleep. Eli groaned and pulled the covers over her head.

“Good morning. It is 0530, on Tuesday, March 4th. The weather will be sunny during the day with chances of rain during the evening and night. Your first meeting is at 9am with Nozomi Toujo and Honoka Kousaka in meeting room 4 on the 34th floor of the MWPSB main building.”

Another groan escaped from the lump of bedclothes.

The bear avatar fell silent, sat down in the air and waited.

Three minutes later it sat up.

“Good morning. It is 0533, on Tuesday, March 4th. The weather will be…”

The bedclothes pile stirred.

“Fine. Fine!” Eli tossed the covers at the holographic bear who instantly ended its message.

“Good morning, Eli-san. How would you like your morning?”

“To go on for another hour?”

There was no reaction.

Eli sighed.

“Give me a cross-section of the news, breakfast Japanese style and change the holo to European.”

“You got it! Breakfast will be ready in 8 minutes.”, the bear replied in its cheery voice.

Eli swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood up and walked towards the bathroom.

* * *

Eli barely payed attention as the car auto-drove itself to the MWPSB, her head was still filled with the profiles of her fellow inspectors and enforcers. She did a last speed read of Toujo’s and Kousaka’s profiles as the car manoeuvred itself into her parking slot. She internalized the fact and walked towards the elevators and the ride up to the 34th floor.

* * *

“What do you think she’s like?”, the orange coloured-hair asked her companion.

“I don’t know.”, her companion replied, sharp green eyes looking at the door to the meeting room, “But I’d say given that we’re three inspectors and six enforcers, this _Eli Ayase_ must be tough as nails. And don’t forget, she’s our _superior_.”

“Odd that there is no picture on file though.”, she added.

The doors suddenly swung open and a tall, blonde woman strode in.

“Toujo and Kousaka?”, she asked.

Kousaka stood at attention and saluted;

“Honoka Kousaka, Inspector MWPSB, assigned to division L as per this morning, ma’am.”

Nozomi Toujo stood statue-like still. She’d seen this person before. Just not, awake.

“Miss Toujo?”, the blonde said, raising her voice slightly.

“Ohh sorry. I’m Nozomi Toujo, Inspector. I’m glad to meet you. I assume you’re Miss Ayase?”

“At least, I hope you are…”, she added, meticulously taking in the blonde.

Eli felt herself blush.

“Yes… I’m Eli Ayase, also inspector. I’ve been assigned as division leader so I hope we will all work well together to stop these crimes from happening and apprehend or terminate the suspect or suspects.”

Kousaka look puzzled.

“Ehh… ma’am?”, she piped up.

“Yes.”

“What’s the mission?”

Eli looked at her dumbfounded.

“You got the brief?”

“Yes.”

“Did you read it?

“Well…”

“You reported to a new assignment and have no idea why?”

“Well… you see… ehehe… I started reading it… and then I fell asleep. It was all so boring so I… I’m sorry.”

Eli felt herself tensing up but took a few breaths to relax.

“Fine Kousaka, here is what we’re up against…”, Eli began.

During this entire exchange Nozomi couldn’t keep her eyes from following every movement, big or small, the blond made. Despite the suit and the flowing coat, this Ayase was a feast for the eyes and under those layers she was sure that her body was equally as impressive. Nozomi noticed the use of several stress techniques, so she knew that Ayase had some issues, not uncommon in their line of work, but they way she hid it spoke of years of dealing with stress alone. Alone. Eli Ayase was alone, Nozomi concluded. Maybe her temperament or looks had made it that way, but that didn’t matter. She was alone. Nozomi made up her mind that she’d try to befriend this person… maybe even…

“Toujo?”, Eli’s voice snapped her back from her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Anything you’d like to add?”, Eli asked.

“Just two questions.”

“And they are?”

“Well… why did they chief create a new division just for this case and put nine women in it when it is this type of violence they’re trying to prevent?”

“Good question, and I have no answer for you. The chief selected us specifically, there was no accident in her selection, of that I’m sure.”, her wrist-com beeped, “sorry…yes?... I see… excellent, thank you.”

She turned back to her subordinates.

“The was logistics. Our office spaces are set up. Shall we go?”

“Let’s!”, Kousaka said with a cheer.

Nozomi coughed.

“Yes, Miss Toujo?”, Eli asked.

“I had one more question.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. What is it?”

“Can I call you Eli?”, Nozomi asked, blinking.

Eli felt herself being drawn into those emerald pools, but by sheer force of will held her ground.

“Ehh… off course. Oh, and one more thing.”

Kousaka and Toujo looked at her expectantly.

“The enforcers are not sub-human or dogs to be herded. They are humans like us, but that had a bad draw or just plain bad luck. I expect you to treat them like colleagues, not underlings. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”, they both saluted.

“Good, let’s go!” and she turned out of the room. Kousaka and Toujo following her close behind.


	4. The enforcers and the lab-techs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six, very different, personalities collide

The door chime cut a dissonant harmony through the sound of running water. The occupant of the room, stirred slightly, her meditation disrupted.

“Who is it?”, the occupant asked.

“It’s Kotori, may I come in?”

The occupant was puzzled for a moment.

“You know I never lock the door. And you also know that you are welcome whenever you want.”

The door slid open; the occupant heard steps.

“But it is still polite to ask.”, Kotori Minami said as she came closer and sat down on the tatami.

The room was spartan to a fault; a desk, tatami flooring and a sliding-door cupboard were the only furnishings in the living area, the small kitchen and bathroom, splitting off from the entrance.

Kotori looked down at the meditating form of Umi Sonoda, sitting perfectly still on her knees in the centre of the tatami. There was a sense of quiet fury about her, long her tied in a sharp ponytail, face completely devoid of expression. Had Kotori not known what to look for she’d probably believed the person to be emotionless but that impression gave way to a myriad of emotions under tight control under the exterior and a fire that had been her pleasure to discover.

“You’re staring again.”, said Sonoda with her eyes closed.

“Sorry. Just hard to take my eyes off you.”, she leant forward.

As so many times before, Umi’s arm shot out and placed its’ hand gently on the back of Kotori’s neck and delicately pulled her towards Umi’s, now upturned, face until their noses touched. Kotori closed the distance and almost viciously captured Umi’s lips, her mouth open. She felt Umi stiffen for a moment as she weathered Kotori’s assault, a need for control in an uncontrollable situation. Almost as quickly as it happened, Kotori withdrew and jerked backwards, loosing her balance and falling onto the tatami.

“I’m sorry… I…”, she said in panic.

“It’s all right Kotori.”, a calm Umi said, softening her voice as to calm the other woman, “I know. Let me help you up.”. Umi was all too familiar with this dance. She stood up and reached out for Kotori to grip her hand and let herself be pulled up, instead Kotori pulled Umi down to the tatami, the slender blunette, catching herself with her arms before her body slammed into Kotori’s.

With an almost desperate whine Kotori whispered: “Hold me.”

Umi lifted the now almost limp Kotori up and held her in her arms, placing a gentle kiss on her hair.

“They assigned you to field work.”, Kotori said, nuzzling into Umi’s embrace, “I’ll be lab-tech on the same division.”

“I know, I read the brief.”

“Please be careful!”, Kotori wrapped her arms around Umi.

“And always come back.”, she continued.

“Always my dear.” Umi responded.

They sat like this for a while until their wrist-coms beeped. It was time to go and meet the new division inspector. They kissed before the walked out into the hallway.

* * *

As she flicked through the observation cameras in the enforcers rooms there was always one she ended up looking at longer than the others. Technically she shouldn’t be able to see these at all, they were her division colleagues after all, but not being marked as a latent criminal in the system had its’ advantages, being able to access the internal cameras one of them.

She observed the orange-haired girl doing her regular workout: treadmill, strength and acrobatics, watching the sweat building up and gluing the training clothes to the body. She knew that something compelled Rin Hoshizora to do all these routines day in and day out, but she didn’t know why. And she was too shy to ask directly. She typed on her keyboard. A chime sounded over the video, Hoshizora looking in the direction of the terminal then stopping her routine to come over and read it.

_Switch to another camera… there._

Rin Hoshizora’s face filled almost the entire monitor. Her workout clothes hanging of her frame. It was almost as if she was looking at her. Rin read the message

“ _Don’t forget there is a division meeting in 20 minutes. Don’t be late. H_ ”, Rin muttered in the video stream. Rin chuckled.

“You know it’s not nice to peek at a girl without asking, _Kayo-chin_.”, she voiced.

Another message.

_I didn’t. Really._

“Then how do you know I just said that, nya?”

Hanayo ‘Kayo-chin’ Koizumi, turned from her monitor, blushing wildly. Over the headset she heard;

“Please let me see you blush one of these days. I bet it is the cutest blush ever.”, Rin laughed. A clear, happy laugh.

“You should get ready too then. See ya’… I hope”.

Hanayo turned to another camera and tried to calm herself down.

* * *

Dummies were never as much fun as the real thing. They reacted sluggish, never hit hard enough and breaking them never left her with any satisfaction, just frustration. Out on the field, there she was _alive_. This was her stage now, far from the floodlights of her past, but on display just the same. But the audience, often a lone soul of one saw it all: her struggle, her fight and in the end, a shining encore, complete with flashing lights. She bowed, thanking for the chance to give her all. Then the audience was gone, either in silence or with a final cheer.

Or so she justified it to herself.

She knew that the people she either paralysed, eliminated or in extreme case disintegrated never appreciated her performance. They never cheered. They screamed, they begged and then they were gone. Silenced by her weapon or her body.

She finished her sparring session with dummy by hitting it square in the holographic gut with her bare fist. The dummies control system was housed there so she at least got to see it crumple into a heap. She looked at, then kicked the result of a handiwork and turned to get her towel and water, only to be met by two violet eyes scrutinizing her.

“Didn’t know they let first graders into this section. You new?” asked the owner of the violet eyes.

“Screw you. If anything, I’m your senior.”, came the tort reply as the shorter woman poured some water over her head and proceeded to dry herself with the towel.

The red head with the violet eyes seemed to be taken aback by that.

“Look I...”

“No! You look miss special deal.”, interrupted the shorter woman, “Yes, I know who you are, Nishikino. You had it all, didn’t you? Only to toss it away. You have no idea how to work yourself from nothing to something only to have it snatched away by someone who thinks they are better than you.”

“I had...”

“Look here princess, I don’t know what the chief had for you and I don’t care. If I hear you make one more short joke or about first graders, I will take you to task, got that?”

With that the shorter woman walked out of the train room leaving the stunned Nishikino to her own devices.

“You’re wrong... “, she whispered to no one in particular, “I had nothing… nothing real…”.

A single tear fell to the floor.


	5. Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had always been gray.

_Grey_.

It had all been grey.

Always.

Light, dark, desaturated, solarized.

Always grey.

She was told there was colour, that she had colour. That things for her just were… different. But that never really helped. But at least it didn’t hurt either.

Then, through some miracle there had been colour. Even for just an instant. She had no name. No way to say what it was, it was just… different to everything else. To everything grey. So different it had her craving more.

She began to fall, to stumble, all for it to happen again, but it didn’t. Everything remained grey.

One day, while not thinking about it she fell again. And there was this… thing again. It hurt, but it was colour. And it had a name, given by others, but still a name. _Red._ And she had a colour. Apparently, everyone had one. Hers was… grey. Not just to absence of any distinctness, but literal grey. And while for everyone else it changed, for her… it didn’t. It remained grey. And apparently that was good. For she was left alone. Free to do as she pleased. But she only wanted one thing, not to be grey.

She saw a chart once. It spoke of hue’s and clouds, something she knew existed, but had never seen. It had all been grey to her.

Once she was caught when she fell. It was in the summer. The saviour suddenly had colour here and there, but she had none. She’d asked if she was hurt. She’d been kind. But she wanted to see more. More of that red. More than red. When they were alone, she used a knife. There was a scream. It soon became a fountain of colour. Sound had colour too. And she wanted more. So, she kept going.

In the end there was no more colour, and her clothes were soaked. She dropped the knife into a fire and stumbled out from their hideaway, wandering without aim.

She had collapsed. She’d been found. They had talked to her, asked her questions, tested her. Told her that she was lucky.

She was grey.

But she’d found colour. And now… nothing would stop her from getting more of it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now who might this be, you wonder. Well, we'll see as the story develops


	6. Division L

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The division meets for the first time.

_One, two… five… seven, eight. Someone is missing_ , thought Eli as she counted the people in the meeting room.

 _Ahh right… Koizumi_.

“If you’re waiting for Kayo-chin to show up, she won’t. She never comes in person as far as I know. ”, Hochizora said as she saw Eli’s gaze look around the table.

“ _Kayo-chin_?”

“Ohh sorry, Hanayo Koizumi”.

“Ahh, I see”, Eli acknowledged, making a note to check what _Kayo-chin_ meant.

The inspectors stood at one end of the room, the enforcers, sitting or standing around the small table. Eli’d noticed that Sonoda and Minami had stayed close all the time where as Yazawa and Nischikino couldn’t seem to get far enough from each other, the antagonization clearly coming from Yazawa.

“I take it everybody has read the brief?”, she asked, shooting a glance at Kousaka. There was a general murmur of acknowledgement from the room.

“Just to recap then; I’m Eli Ayase and these are Nozomi Toujo and Honoka Kousaka.”, they nodded as their names came up.

“Scanners don’t show any change in the area stress apart from the victim’s own levels, “she continued, “cameras seem to be useless and there has been only one confirmed perpetrator found. She was eliminated before any further data could be gathered…”

“We all know you’re talking about Sonoda and Minami. How about we skip the pronoun-game?”, Yazawa interrupted.

Eli looked at Minami and Sonoda. Both nodded.

“Fine then. Minami was attacked and Sonoda saved her, causing them both to go over the line. We have close to no clues and no leads. So, we have to do this by ear and be able to spring into action at any indication of deviant behaviour.”

She took a deep breath.

“Questions?”

Yazawa’s hand shot up.

“Yes?”

“Why is she here?”, she pointed at Nishikino.

“She is here because she is an enforcer, _just like you_ , and she can double as a lab-tech. And the way things look, we need to be able to analyse data out in the field. Holography and virtual presence can only do so much, and Koizumi and Minami are not going out.”

A grunt and an _aww_ from Hoshizora was all the acknowledgement Eli got.

Hoschizora raised her hand.

“Yes Hoshizora?”

“How will you split us up? I mean, it’s four of us and three of you.”

“That will depend on who is best suited. There are no fixed teams here apart from the ones you make.”

“Ma’am?”

“What I mean is, if you want to partner up with a particular inspector you say so. However, _Yazawa put your hand down_ , you cannot refuse to be teamed with anyone while in the field. Out there, your and our personal feelings don’t come into play. Out there we are the MWPSB, a unit, we safeguard the civilian population. That answer your question?”

Hoshizora nodded.

“One more thing.”, Eli raised her voice slightly, “Within this unit we are equals, no matter what our Psycho-Pass is. Remember that. We’ve all been assigned together by the higher ups to solve this. I’ve opened up basic information on the team to you all, it’s not much more than you had in the brief, but it is what I was cleared to. For each one of you goes, get to know your team. They will be your lifeline in the field. That is all.”


	7. Night musing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For some the night is an escape, a place for discovery

Here… sound had shape and form. Here… sound had life and structure. Here… she lived.

A large hall, empty, say for herself and a grand piano. The sound reverberated around the empty room, around her. Filling every corner of the space between here and infinity in this ever-expansive room, the sound being perfect wherever you were, right next to the shiny black instrument or in the furthest seat in the hall. Perfect. She played alone, always alone. Whatever other sounds were heard, they were not real, only she was. In this space, she could let herself go, simply excising between key and chord.

She played the final chords, relishing in the sound as it bounced around and back to her. As she removed her hand from the keyboard, she heard clapping. A steady, rhythmic beat of hands.

Had she been careless and left the door open just too wide? Had she maybe not locked it at all, so she was found out? Or had someone just happened to be able to peek inside.

Next to the shadow, tinted in red that sat on the piano bench, a pale-blue window appeared.

_Incoming request: Duet, jazz; show tune  
Accept/Deny?_

She thought for a moment and decided. Playing a little loose might be good, the day had been tough, especially that little…

She clicked on _Accept_.

Next to the piano another avatar materialized, so pink it practically glared.

“You’re really good”, it said.

“Thank you, I’ve been playing for a long time and all that hard work pays off.”

It was a decent enough reply, not too informative and stressing hard work. Very ‘standard’.

“NiCO has been listening to you for a while now, thought she’d ask for a duet.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I rarely get anyone to play with me.”, she shrugged.

“Don’t think they’re good enough? NiCO knows she’s awesome. So she dares where other fear to tread.”

“Very cheesy, but sure.”, she thought for a moment, “How about _My favourite things_?”

“Classic. How about in a more jazzy rendition?”

“I can do that.”

“And NiCO will sing.”

She recalled the song and started playing the intro, embellishing it here and there with some overtones.

“ _Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; bright copper kettles…_ ”

The more she heard the singing the more entranced she became. This _NiCO_ was good. Though in the CommuField all matter of manipulation was possible, real talent was hard to fake or imitate. You either had it or not.

“ _Strangers on pianos and music in dark rooms; singing in great halls and dancing in ball rooms; sounds that meld in the bed late at night; these are a few of my favourite things_ ”

Had that NiCO just looked square at her when she improvised that verse? She felt her cheeks getting hot, something her avatar did not show. The song continued further until the end.

“ _And then I don’t feel so baaaaad_ ”

Silence met their finale.

“You should really open up the field more, you’re very select on who can find this place. NiCO stumbled on it by accident”

“I prefer to play in private.”

“Ever play on a real one?”

“What?”

“A real piano.”

“Oh yes, of course. I have one in my quarters, but it’s late and it’s not soundproofed, so I play a keyboard into here so that it feels right.”

“Ahh. NiCO knew you were for real. Well, I’ve got to jet. Work, you know. Drop me a message and we might play together again.”

Should she accept?

“Ok. Let’s keep in touch. But I might not be able to answer all that quickly sometimes. Also, work.”

“I get it, bye”, and the pink avatar was gone.

She looked around, opened her menu and logged out.

In the real world, Maki Nishikino removed her headset and gloves. Such an odd character, and always in the third person, but it was probably a persona. It had been quite some time since she’d played with someone. It felt nice. Checking her computer, she saw this _NiCO_ ’s id in her inbox and wrote a short message:

_Thank you for the duet. I hope we can do this together again soon._

In another room, a computer terminal chimed, indicating the arrival of a new message. The occupant read it the message and smiled.

* * *

“ _Kayo-chin_ ”, Rin said in her empty room.

Silence.

“ _Kayo-chin_ , I know you can hear me…”, she repeated.

A message flashed on the screen.

_What do you want?_

“Aww, and here I was hoping for a video stream…”

Seconds passed, then another message.

_Why are you so insistent?_

“Hmm... I don’t know… maybe… because you’re a mystery. I don’t even know if you’re a guy or a girl.”

_Would it matter?_

“To me? Maybe.”, she grinned, “if you’re a cute girl I might like you.” She laughed.

It took a few seconds for a message to appear

_Don’t say things like that. It’s embarrassing. And I’m most definitely a girl!_

“Good luck for me then.”

The message came almost immediately.

_Why?_

“Read my file.”

_I can’t._

“Don’t tell me you can’t access it.”

_I won’t then._

“Why not?”

_I would know things about you that you haven’t told me. It would be unfair._

Rin sighed.

“I’m an enforcer. There might be a day when you won’t be able to ask me, you know that right?”

The reply seemed to linger.

_I know._

_I would be sad._

“Aww... that is so sweet Kayo-chin. Now I need to find out more about you.”

_Why are you so insistent?_

“There you go again. I’m curious. Isn’t that enough?”

_But why?_

“You’re… my friend.”

_But how? You don’t know me._

“I would like to. Apart from your work record I know very little, true. But I get one thing.”

_What?_

“That you’re alone and want to change. I do too. For me it’s too late. But not for you.”

The screen stayed blank. Rin waited.

When five minutes had passed, she said.

“Kayo-chin. I’m sorry if I was too blunt. But I am right, right?”

The screen stayed blank.

Resigned, Rin started to undress.

 _A nice bath will make it all better, pity I can’t… nah, she’d never let me_ , she thought.

She went into the bathroom and when she emerged twenty minutes later there was a single message on the screen.

_Please be careful in the field._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After hearing it first in a jazz version in Kids on the slope I've wanted to a) write the lyrics for such a version and b) learn to play it... well here is a bit of 'a' anyway.


	8. Night terrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For some the night is terror, a place for fear but also reflection

They held her down to the ground, faceless, shapeless figures. She wasn’t sure how many there were. She couldn’t move, a hand covering her mouth so only muffled screams could escape. Escape. That is what she wanted. She contorted her body as much as she could but to no avail. She was pinned. Suddenly, a flash of light reflecting of a shiny object graced her eyes. She could see it. The sight made her panic, her body instantly reacting, trying to move away. Then it was gone, replaced by the sound of torn fabric. She struggled even more, more muffled shouts escaping her covered mouth. They said nothing, their blank masks showing no emotion. A cold wind blew on her leg, but the cold was soon replaced with a line of fire. She felt her leg getting wet, flowing freely. A glint of a reflection again, then her thigh was on fire. She managed to elude the hand that was covering her mouth and screamed!

Kotori Minami shot, screaming, out of the bed and into a pile on the floor, desperately crawling to put as much distance between her and the piece of furniture.

The lights went on and a naked Umi Sonoda, threw herself out of the bed in Kotori’s direction, rolling sideways on the floor and catching Kotori in her arms. Kotori was whimpering.

“No... no… no…”, she stammered repeatedly, raising her hands to cover her eyes.

The soothing voice of Sonoda spoke in a low voice:

“You’re safe. I’m here. You’re safe.”, while holding on to the spasmodically shaking woman, gently stroking her hair.

After a few minutes, Minami calmed down.

“Umi?”

“Yes dearest?”

“I had it again.”

“I know.”

“I couldn’t move and they…”

“You’re safe. They cannot hurt you anymore.”

Kotori was silent for a moment.

“You gave up every…”

“What’s done is done.”, Umi interrupted, “Let’s not talk about it further.”

Kotori fell silent again, touching her legs with her free hand.

“I have so many scars…”

The attack had not only scarred Kotori Minami for life, also the physical trauma had been severe. Nothing that a little surgery couldn’t rectify, but Kotori still saw the scars, even though to any normal observer they were invisible.

“True, but they make you unique. They show that you survived.”

“But I’m…”

“No, you’re not. My opinion is not for some misplaced pity or exaggeration, it’s my genuine opinion. Just being able to see you in all your glory when we are alone, makes my heart race and lights my desire.”

“Really?”

“Truth.”

Kotori relaxed more into her lovers embrace.

“Can we…”, she looked up at Umi, her eyes longing.

Umi placed a long, passionate kiss on Kotori’s lips.

“Let’s go back to bed.”, Umi said, slowly standing up.

Some hours later, they fell asleep.

* * *

Even though it could be argued that the later the night, the more people of impure intent were about in the city, things rarely happened during the later stages of the graveyard shift, at the points in time where ordinary people slept and other just got up.

Nozomi Toujo didn’t like this shift very much, pulling a double any day was a mess, but someone had to. So, she had volunteered.

Now she sat, leaned back in her office chair with her feet up on the desk, trying to focus her mind. It wasn’t working. What she mostly saw when she closed her eyes was blue. Oceans and skies. She had seen this Ayase woman before, of that she was certain. She was also certain that had never met before, but there was something about the blonde that just pulled Nozomi in. And if her instincts were right, she had the same effect on Ayase. She’d observed the, cool as ice, blonde taking an step out of her armour a few times but she’d retreated back again quickly. Just asking if she could use the inspectors first name had gotten her a momentary glance at a flustered Eli Ayase. Something she wouldn’t mind seeing again.

But how should she get her to open up? Simply ask? Maybe dinner? The dynamic of the team is important, she could say, using it as a pre-tense to get some personal time with the inspector. Would Ayase see through it and maybe get upset by it?

Nozomi decided that it was worth a try. Tomorrow. Now she just wanted to shut her eyes for a few moments and wait for the morning shift to come in.

The time read 05:10.

* * *

Wherever she went she saw emerald eyes, regarding her. It wasn’t oppressive or dangerous, it just _was_. Like that part had been added permanently to her world. Sometimes, she felt a pull, but managed to ignore it or stand against it, but it was always pulling in the same direction. Towards those emerald eyes.

She heard a sound. It was sharp and unwelcome. It tore through her like a hot knife through paper. Clean and unyielding.

She woke up.

“Good morning. It is 0533, on Wednesday, March 5th. The weather will be…”


	9. Morning moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Early morning is a killer

Her morning walk was never anything special. The same houses, the same people saying hello and the same streets. She thanked the cameras and scanner almost every day for giving her such a peaceful neighbourhood to call home. It was stable, just enough change not to make it boring and a delight to traverse. As she walked past another corner, she suddenly heard a _splat_ like she’d stepped into something wet. She stopped and looked down. There was a pool of red liquid around and under her shoe, it was fed from a source somewhere behind the fence that was flowing steady. She noticed a break in the fence, put her eye to it an looked through it at the source of the liquid. She screamed.

* * *

Eli quenched a yawn; her vivid dreams kept her vision focused on Toujo. She was quite certain the colour matched.

The entire division, except for the lab-techs, and even the ones that had been on the night shift, filtered into their office space and stood, sat or lounged around, giving their attention to the inspector.

“Ok, people this is what we know: This morning, a body was found by a local resident on an abandoned lot in the Tohei ward. The body had multiple lacerations all over and had not gone into rigor when the first patrol and lab-bots arrived. The area was isolated and swept, but no unusual changes in the area stress were recorded either before or after. The area where the body was found has several scanners and camera, but none were aimed at the lot. Apparently, it’s been this way for years. Probably a business that planned to use the area initially, but then held on to it in case prices would go up.”

“Guess they have no motive. A dead body does not inspire a good sale.”, injected Nishikino.

“True. We ran a quick check but came up empty. But they are not off the table yet.”

“Is there reason to believe that these are the culprits that we are after?”, Sonoda asked.

Eli shrugged.

“Honestly, I don’t know. The chief sent this to us and wants us to check it out. But the fact that it was in a scanner thick zone, the body was cut multiple times in very specific places and…”

“The same way Koto... Miss Minami was cut?”, Umi queried.

Eli nodded.

“Yes. The placement of the cuts was very precise.”

Umi stood up.

“Let’s go then.”

“We will.”, Toujo spoke up, “But first we need to divide ourselves to the cars. Taking the paddy wagon will probably heighten the stress level. We’ll take civilian cars to minimize our impact.”

“As long as I don’t…”, Yazawa began to say.

“Yazawa… you and Nishikino will ride with Kousaka. Hoshizora and Sonoda will go with myself and Miss Ayase.”

Neither Nico nor Maki looked very happy.

“Inspector, I…”, Maki began.

“This will be so much fun. Then we can really get to know each other.”, a positive Honoka Kousaka chimed in, “It’s gonna be awesome!!!”

Both Maki and Nico looked at the inspector in disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really have a problem with getting the length of the chapters right, on some I struggle to find anything interesting to write, but they don't 'work' with the next one so they should be separate... and there are other times, when I have to stop myself for it feels like I'm stroking my own ego, feeling that every single word is so important I can't cut it down.
> 
> We have our first new victim, a testament to the gruesomeness of the killer(s).


	10. Crime scene (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at the crime scene

The car ride had been very silent, at least from Maki’s and Nico’s participation. Kousaka had spoken more than enough for both of them, talking about her family; her sister and her parents and how she loved bread. Maki and Nico had stayed silent, so it had been left to Kousaka to fill the silence, something she apparently excelled at.

In the other car, it had been a bit livelier with Hoshizora and Toujo doing most of the talking while Sonoda and Eli had remained focused on business and had discussed particulars about Minami’s case.

Now they stood at the crime scene, cornered off by drones and holo-tape marking, shielding the gruesome fate that had ended the life of the victim, a Hoshi Suzuki, from the public. All in all, there was nothing special about the victim. She wasn’t a local resident, had an acceptable psycho-pass and had worked in medical care. All that was in itself not very strange apart apart from the fact that she had been in an area in the early morning that was a fair bit away from her domicile. Patrol units had already been at the location and according to the entry scanner it had not been accessed for a few days.

Minami and Koizumi had turned over every virtual stone they could, but had not found a reason why the victim would have been in this area, and the local CCTV cameras saw her entering the area alone, and after she got to the blind spot of the lot, she’d never come out. And no sounds had been heard or recorded.

A tent had been erected over the victim’s body as to not cause more stress in the area. Nishikino strode purposefully towards it, Nico eyeing her movement.

“Trying to prove you’re tough, princess?”, she asked mockingly.

“No.”, came the curt reply, “I’m just used to bodies.”

Absorbed in her own little world of medical detachment she entered the tent, making sure to close it behind her.

“Bodies... sure... don’t come crying to me when you feel sick.”, Nico muttered.

“Didn’t you now?”, Nozomi interjected, “She used to be a surgeon.”

“Really?”

“You didn’t read the file Eli...ehh… Inspector Ayase made available?”

“Nope. I already knew about her.”

“Then you would have known.”, Nozomi winked, “She lost a patient, not her fault though, sloppy work by the surgeon that closed, but she took it personally.”

“Oh, well I don’t care…”

“Maybe you should… Nico-Nii”

Nico froze.

“Where did you hear that name?”, she said slowly and very quiet.

“Oh… where indeed...”, Nozomi mused and turned away, leaving Nico dazed and feeling somewhat uneasy.


	11. Crime scene (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A body is examined

In the privacy of the tent, Maki relaxed, her posture softening. What was it with that bratty Yazawa that annoyed her so, but at the same time, wanted her to get to know her. Emotions… she’d long since given up understanding them.

Apart from her and the victim, the only other item in the tent was a portable lab station, she activated it and the screens on it’s top came to life. She moved the two screens so she could comfortable see them from all angles.

“Minami, Koizumi. Are we online?”

“Please call me Kotori, Miss Nishikino.”

 _I am here_ , flashed a message.

“Call me Maki then.”

“Hello Maki.”

“Hello Kotori. I just need to ask, are you sure about doing this?”

There was a moments silence.

“It’s ok. I can’t say it is enjoyable, but it is important to stop this.”

“Fine. I understand.”

_Ok, here we go._

Maki put on a pair of transparent gloves and knelt down next to the body.

“This is Maki Nishikino, performing on-site examination of victim, prior to transport to MWPSB medical facility. The body has preliminary been identified as Hoshi Suzuki. Visual inspection of the body yields several, what appears to be, cuts in the fabric surrounding both major and minor arteries. The face and neck bear signs of retainment by, what appears to be, hands with more subdermal contusions around the mouth area.”, she eased her fingers into the mouth to gently open it, “no visible signs that anything was inserted into the mouth as a gag or to prevent screaming of the victim. We might be able to get some fibres if the one holding wore textile gloves.”

She took out her fingers and changed gloves.

“The finger marks on the neck are small, almost delicate, this leads to a theory that the perpetrator or perpetrators were either of a small build or athletic.”, she looked through an electronic magnifier, “Either female or male with extended nail growth. There is an indentation like the tip of a nail approximately half a centimetre from the top of a finger, likely the index finger. As I recall there is a fashion trend to grow that nail a bit longer than the others.”

She put the magnifier down.

“Can you confirm, Kotori?”

“True. The trend has been going for about a year with the most differing factor being decorations.”, Kotori replied over the com.

“I’ll never understand it.”, Maki commented, “Continuing, apart from the cuts, the victims clothing is intact. The cuts in the clothing appear to be very deliberate and exact, showing no hesitation or hurry.”, she examined a split on the body’s left side, “There is no scorching or burn on the fabric, so no lasers or similar tools were used. Also, no signs on the skin underneath, though without washing the body we won’t know for sure. Cursory inspection of the wounds reveals that they are not very deep. They would alone not create enough of a flow by themselves to be reach to the other side of the fence. But this many… hmm… Koizumi, were any blood thinners detected in the blood samples?”

_Yes._

“I need you to say it loud for the record. Please.”

“Yes… there… were.”, said a small voice over the com.

Maki stopped her examination for a moment.

“Koizumi… You should speak more often. You have a lovely voice.”

“I... can’t.”

“You can, you’re doing it right now.”

“Only because it’s you, Miss Nishikino.”

“Why only me? Kotori can hear you too.”

“No. I disabled her audio for now. Your room in underneath mine, and sometimes, when I’m lucky I get to hear you play. It’s wonderful.”

Maki didn’t really know what to say.

“Thank you… I hope I’m not keeping you awake.”

“No, it’s amazing how you play. So much emotion in every note, I can listen to it for hours.”, Koizumi said, the tones in her voice, plucking on Maki’s heartstrings, “We should continue with the investigation.”

There was a slight click.

“There you are. My audio was gone for a time there, everything ok Maki?”, Kotori asked, slightly agitated.

“All is fine, probably just temporary.”, Maki lied.

“Let’s move on. Alongside the body and the major blood vessels there are small incisions, following a similar pattern of being just deep enough for the blood to flow out, but not enough to either bleed out the victim or cause the flow by itself to be as large. It would also not be enough to cause the victim to go into chock. It is a reasonable theory at this point to assume that the perpetrator or perpetrators wanted to prolong what I can only call a _bloodletting_ for as long as possible, but for a reason that escapes me.”

Maki bend down towards the lower parts of the body.

“The body ejected itself on death; however, “, she moved fabric aside, “there is no external indication of any sexual trauma to the victim. The legs bear a similar pattern to what is on file for case CID7426-61, but as that one was prevented from escalating, the victim in this case has more cuts.”

“Looking at the back”, she continued, ”it is clear that the victim was held on the ground as material from the ground is present and smeared into the clothing and hair and placed in this kneeling position as she expired.”

Maki stood up.

“The ground around the victim is disturbed, a scan and analysis by probes, is more likely to turn up anything that is not visible.”

She went on: “The cuts are methodical, but nothing medical, suggesting that the method was refined over time. However, if the purpose was to bleed out the victim with a maximum amount of blood, there are more efficient methods that increase both time and flow without the use of thinners. All in all, this was no mistake. It was calculated, but what was the victim doing here? Koizumi and Minami, ehh… sorry, Kotori. Please take over and have the body moved to the medical section for a full autopsy”

Maki removed her gloves as the left the tent and muttered: “Nobody deserves this.” She failed to notice the short, lean person that was crouching next to the back of the tent, despite the orange hair.

She walked back to the inspectors that were busy looking around the scene.

“I’m done. The others will handle it from here.”

“Thank you, Miss Nishikino,”, said Eli, “I’m looking forward to your report.”

“It’s not happy reading or listening.”

“I’m aware, but still, you took the brunt of it. Where is Hoshizora?”

Nozomi pointed; “Over there. Looking towards that group of trees in the distance.”

“Let’s go back, there is nothing more to learn here for now.”, said Eli.

No one noticed the glimmer coming from the trees, a distance away.

* * *

It was amazing what you could buy without arousing suspicion.

The scene of the latest act lay a great distance away, yet at its’ most powerful magnification, it was almost as she were there among them. She saw the athletic one sneak towards the tent after the occupant had entered, she saw the small specks of fear that the shorter black-haired one with pigtails had in her eyes when the one with the big chest had spoken to her, she saw… _orange_.

She looked up, away from the scene, checked the magnifiers and then looked again. The woman she’d seen months before who had killed one of the others, a tall woman with long bright hair who looked tired and then… _orange_. How was this possible? The eyes were blue.

She quickly angled the magnifier away. How could this be? Who was this person? She had to know. But she was too far, and now the occupant of the tent had left it and joined the others. They were getting ready to leave. They were MWPSB sure, but who was that woman? The walked over to their vehicles and they were gone.

She’d have to be closer, to be bolder, for… she was just… grey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tough one to write, mostly because I have to make it sound believable but not too corny or removed from reality. Also it's quite graphic. Personally I have no problem with it, but I can empathize with people getting a bit uncomfortable.


	12. A voice in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A letter opens a new possebility

She treasured these moments.

Steam was rising from the water, the occasional drip from condensation impacting after its’ fall from the ceiling. It was still, quiet and serene.

Hanayo Koizumi tried her best to move the images she’d seen during the crime scene investigation from her mind, Nishikino’s comment still resonating:

_‘You should speak more often. You have a lovely voice.’_

_She has to be wrong. They would just laugh at me. Or worse, they’d wish to talk more with me… and be close… but if… no, no, no... get a grip. That isn’t for you._

She’d been lucky when the quarters had been handed out as she joined to MWPSB. She’d been able to reserve a section of the floor for herself and her labs, including a separate room for the bath, as her personal quarters where full of electronics that didn’t take kindly to increased moisture. Another advantage was that the section was slightly off the beaten path for most of the inhabitants, so no one wondered into it my mistake.

Feeling refreshed, she stood up in the water and let her shoulder-length hair out from the towel that had held it. A few streaks of water followed her body’s curves to the floor as she stepped out of the water.

Wrapping a towel around her she checked the hallway monitors for any sign of presence in her path. Satisfied, she exited the bathroom and tip-toed to her quarters. At the door she stopped, stunned. There was a neatly folded envelope attached to it. On it, the letters spelled: _To Kayo-chin_.

_Hoshizora, but how? How does she know where my quarters are?_

Hanayo looked around, grabbed the envelope and quickly entered her room. The lock had not been breached at least. S had enough safeguards in place to know. She tossed the envelope on her desk and started to dress, feeling uneasy that the orange-haired girl had found her quarters. Hesitantly, she opened the letter and began to read.

_My dearest Kayo-chin,_

_I hope I didn’t scare you by putting this letter on your door. It was never my intention to cause you any discomfort. But after what I heard today; I could not help myself._

_I heard your voice today. It was so beautiful I almost cried. I have never heard anything so wonderful in my life. My heart beat just went crazy._

_I was by the tent when Nichikino asked you to speak for the record. And it was amazing. I hid, so that she wouldn’t see me when she got out and when you told her that your room was above hers, it was not very difficult to find. I will not come up here again, unless you ask me. You have my word. And you can put all kinds of alerts on me if you like, I am true to what I promise. And I will never tell._

_I hope that we can still ‘speak’ in the future. I know what I am but believe that I would never hurt you. You have been so kind in actually talking to me while most others disregard or ignore me._

_For that I will always be grateful._

_Please let me know your response._

_Yours, Rin._

Hanayo read the letter a few times, her fear slowly subsiding.

Hoshizora had heard. Hanayo’d been so careful, even filling Minami’s channel with interference, but Hoshizora had heard her. As the reality sank in, she noticed that she felt fine with Hoshizora… Rin... having heard her. But why? Maybe it was the way that she’d immediately confessed and not kept it a secret spoke of well-meaning intentions? And she had promised to keep it a secret if Hanayo wanted. Maybe it was that.

She moved to her desk and sat down, activating the feeds. Hoshizora’s room sprang into life on the screens. She was in her training routine, but something was off. She kept glancing at the monitor on her desk.

_She’s probably anxious for my reply._

The more she looked at the athletic girl exercising she felt she needed to _say_ something.

* * *

Rin went through her training regime for a third time for the evening, her eyes constantly glancing towards the monitor. Figuring out where Kayo-chin had her quarters had not been very difficult given the floors were almost identical. She’d looked up how to fold an envelope on the net and then sat down after her shift ended to write her letter.

_I hope I didn’t scare her. I don’t want to lose the only person that is kind to me. But it’s fine if she never does message me again. I don’t deserve any better._

A small chime broker her out of her thoughts. Her screen was blinking for a new message. She vaulted off the training equipment and sat down.

“Kayo-chin, please don’t hate me”, she whispered.

The message was simple. Just one word.

_Rin._

Rin read her name again and tilted her head.

“Kayo-chin?”

_Yes._

“Please don’t be mad. I’m sorry.”

_It’s ok. I was shocked at first, but I’m calm now._

_Why did you put a letter on my door?_

“I wanted to tell you I knew right away, but in a way only you would know. The building is all the same for the most part, so it was easy to figure it out.”

_You won’t tell anyone?_

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t. Promise”

_Then…_

There was a moment silence.

“Please don’t tell anyone.”, a small voice said from the speaker.

Rin was silent, frozen in place.

“Rin?”

“It’s really beautiful Kayo-chin. Your voice. I could listen to it all night.”

“Don’t… don’t say things like that.”

“It’s true. I wish I could hear your voice every day. Talking to me.”

“I can talk to you… like this. Tomorrow too… if you’d like”

Rin smiled.

“I’d like that very much.”

“But for now, we should sleep.”

“Aww.. I don’t want to…. but you’re right.”

Rin moved over to her bed, transferring the conversation to her wrist-com.

“You still there?”

“Yes.”, came the reply from the bracelet speaker.

“I know I’m asking a lot but…”

“Yes?”

“Would you please talk to me… until I fall asleep?”

“But why… and about what?”

“Anything. Just so that… I’m not alone for once when I sleep. Please?”, Rin replied softly.

There was a moments silence.

“Just this once.”

“Thank you.”

Hanayo started talking about music. Rin initially responded, but as time went by, she became more sluggish until she didn’t reply. Hanayo checked her monitors and seeing that the other woman had fallen asleep, she said:

“Good night… Rin.” and closed the link.

Rin slept better than she had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In trying to keep at least a chapter in front of what is published and work picking up, there hasn't been much time to write. But ohh my.. have I got notes for future events. I'm also trying out a software to keep track of the story as a crime story is more complex to structure than slice of life stuff. So far I've been moving published things into it so get a feel for it. 
> 
> As I have several projects going updates might become a bit erratic at times so I ask for patience from you, dear reader.
> 
> As always: feel free to comment, I appreciate any pointers you can give to help me improve.


	13. Warehouse requiem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Music from a time before Sybil.

An alert flashed on Nico’s terminal.

_TomatoQueen has come online._

She smiled, put her net gear on and dove in.

Nico was again at the door of the virtual grand hall, and just as she expected, a red-tinted shadow was playing at the piano.

The melody was a simple 4 beat and by the way it was being played a straight C-major. Nico was surprised, she hadn’t expected such a trivial song structure from this virtuoso. She had heard the TomatoQueen play often enough that she knew that jazz and classical songs were her main choice but this was clearly pop. None that she had ever heard, but familiar all the same. But she heard the embellishments and improvisational pieces that spoke of great skill, not just technically, but also in expression and improvisation. Nico began to wonder, like so many times before, if this was a known pianist that played all these various styles here as a release from the mandated music the person had to play on a daily basis.

The piece was short, but as soon as is was over it started again, still in the same key, but with a different variation of style. It all sounded very sad.

By the fourth repetition, she keyed in a request.

_Send request: Chat. Can I help?_

She waited while she heard yet another variation.

_Request accepted: Transferring to private field._

She was standing next to the piano.

“Hello again.”, the shadow said.

“Hiya. Let NiCO brighten your day and give you a smile.”, she smiled. The shadow didn’t smile back.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have facial feed-back active.”

“Why?”

“Well because… here…” she made a sweeping motion with her arm over the hall, “nothing is real.”

“It is as real as we make it.”

“This is like me old life, nothing real, all just pretend and fake.”, she sighed.

Nico kept silent for a bit, then said:

“Are you sure you should be saying this to a stranger? I mean, you don’t know who I am.”

“And neither do you know who I am. Isn’t it wonderful, we are fake in a fake world, living a fake life like a fake puppet that simulates something that never was in the first place.”

“Well… NiCO knows who she is and that she is real. And she knows that the cheering crowd is only a curtain call away.”

The shadow tilted its’ head.

“Must be nice to live such a life.”

“NiCO’s life is always amazing.”

A hollow laugh escaped the shadow.

Nico dialled down the flamboyancy of her avatar.

“But in truth. What is going on and what was that song? It sounded almost like pop-music?”

“It’s over 200 years old, and still catchy, isn’t it? I found it when I was looking through old sheet music when I was younger. It’s a simpler version of a more upbeat song it’s from England.”

“What is it called?”

“Warehouse requiem.”

“Ohh..?”, Nico’s tone was low.

“You know what requiem means?”

“Something like a death chant?”

“Close, but accurate enough.”

“Who died?”

 _Maybe a tad tactless_ , Nico thought after she had said it.

“No one I know. But death is natural. I just feel…. you know… envious?”

“Of a person that died? That’s odd.”

“No, like maybe, it would stop? Look, I have this colleague who hates my guts, but she doesn’t know me, she never even bothered to talk to me. Just bites me head off and makes snide remarks when she can… and… “

“Sounds like a horrible person. Can’t you go to your superior?”

“Not really, they’d probably just say _Work it out_ and leave it at that. Not the first time this happens, but this time… it hurts a lot more.”

“Oh?”

“Well, this person is so angry… and I want to help. I don’t know why I just want to… you know… help.”

The shadow slumped.

“I failed to help a person once. I’m trying to atone.”

There was silence between the two.

“You know, what I always noticed helps?”

“What?”

“Let them vent. Or make them real angry. Then people start to open up and you can see what’s wrong. Then maybe.”, she made a hugging motion, “you can heal.”

The red shadow was silent for a moment.

“I’ll try that. Thank you. Also…”

“There’s more?”

“I can’t stop thinking about her. Even though she hates me.”

Nico considered this for a moment.

“Love is a strange thing. NiCO knows this all too well.”

The shadow played a few notes.

“I need to go. Thank you again for listening to a stranger’s problems.”

“Don’t be a stranger and, “, Nico made her avatar, smile a big smile,” SMILE, for NiCO.”

She logged off seconds after the red shadow had disappeared.

_I hope he works it out, seems like a nice guy._

In a room in another hallway, Maki took of her CommuField gear and leant back in the chair.

_How do you make a person who is angry all the time angry? And Love? Why?_

These thoughts kept her awake till she fell asleep in her chair.

* * *

“Good morning. It is 0533, on Thursday, March 6th. The weather will be…”

Sleepless eyes stared at the avatar in disbelief. Eli sighed.


	14. Autopsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki performs an autopsy on Hoshi Suzuki.

The smell of cold preservation chemicals and metal. She’d never gotten used to it. Not during her years in school, not during her internship, not after. To her, it was both a warning and a penance of wrongs committed. A guilt she’d never been able to wash off, no matter what she did. Her logical mind knew that she had not been to blame for the patient’s death that time.

 _She_ knew.

But… it didn’t matter.

The body of Hoshi Suzuki lay on the stainless-steel bench, two wide strips of fabric protecting her modesty. After the body had been moved from the crime scene it had been scanned, all particles catalogued and analysed and, finally, cleaned up. Identification was a matter of procedure, something outside of Maki’s responsibilities, besides, without an inspector she would have been arrested the second she stepped out of the building.

Autopsies were usually carried out by drones to protect the coroner, but to Maki, it was something that no drone could do better than a human, better than her. She did have her pride after all.

“I’m sorry, but I have to take this one off.”, she said, lifting one of the strips of cloth, “No one can hurt you anymore.”

She checked that everything was being recorded and began her examination.

“This is Maki Nishikino performing forensic autopsy of subject Hoshi Suzuki. The victim is connected to case CID7426-61. Initial cursory examination was carried out at the crime scene, attach this record to the case file.”

“The handprints observed at the scene are still present at this point indicating a strong and prolonged grip. Given the particles recovered from the victim’s clothes and hair, she was indeed held to the ground. Placement and size of the fingers would suggest that multiple assailants were involved and that they were either of light build or female, with female being more likely as certain fashion trends are observed.”

She placed her gloved hand over the finger marks, she would have had to stand/sit over the victim to hold her like that.

“The position of the fingers also indicate that one assailant was sitting or kneeling by her head, covering the mouth and held her down by the neck. Must be strong considering the victim was most likely struggling to break free. Primary toxicology reports no tranquilizers present, though an anti-clotting drug was found in her system. They wanted to blood to flow freely.”

She moved along the body, taking note of the cuts that were now cleaned and clear to see.

“The cuts are not sufficiently deep to cause major blood loss in themselves, but with the effect of the anti-clotting agent, bleed-out was only a matter of time. The cuts are symmetrical and show no signs of hesitation. The person doing this is probably very skilled in the use of sharp surgical instruments but has no advanced medical training.”

As she examined the genital area, she breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up at the face of Hoshi Suzuki she said:

“At least that didn’t happen to you.”

“The victim was not raped,” she came back to her official tone, “and no objects were inserted forcefully or otherwise. Tests before the cleaning of the body also found no other bodily fluids of any kind in the area that did not belong to the deceased.”

She continued her visual examination, speaking calmly for the recording while processing what she saw and trying to understand the process.

 _Why on earth would anyone do like this. It’s so, inefficient and cruel. The victim can feel the end coming and then, they just leave her as she loses consciousness. To die alone._ Maki thought as she went through the motions of incisions and removal of organs.

An hour later she was finished.

“To summarize: There is a very high likelihood multiple assailants are involved, one or more with rudimentary medical knowledge that any first-aid course or net vid can teach. The type of tool used is a very sharp knife, either a scalpel or hobby knife. No energy cutters. The procurement of such items is not regulated so tracing a bill of sale will be impossible. Further, given indicators, the assailants are more likely female, judging by the placement, size and fashion adherence of the fingers. Gloves are worn, though they are plastic, likely also double or triple layered in order to minimize risk of epidermal capture. As victim neared unconsciousness, she was prepped up and the blood allowed to flow free, which is why it started to flow towards the street under the fence. The victim was aware of the entire process before that so if bloodletting was the reason, having the victim unconscious would have been easier so there is some reason the victim was kept conscious.”

She gently touched Suzuki’s hair.

_Sleep now, we’ll get them._

“This concludes the autopsy of Hoshi Suzuki. May the spirits grant her rest. This is Maki Nishikino, ending recording.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first in a series of smaller chapters. A lot of things are happening in parallel, with different players involved, all gearing up towards the end of act 1.
> 
> I'm considering to move this into a series structure instead since it does lend it to an act structure that I'm trying to build. What are your opinions on this?


	15. Grey Council

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A virtual meeting takes place

Three figures stood in the void, clad in flowing grey robes, masks obscuring their faces.

“It was exquisite wasn’t it?”, said the first.

“Yes, so clear.”, said the second.

“So bright.”, said the third, the voice dreamy.

They stood silent for a while.

“I saw something when I looked from the forest. Something… special.”

“Oh?”, the other two echoed.

“A woman with orange hair…”

It took awhile for the meaning to sink in.

“You saw… orange?”, the third asked.

“I think so.”

“But how? We had done nothing”, said the second, bewildered.

“I don’t know.”, said the first, “all I know is that I saw it. And there is something else too.”

“What?”, the second one asked, “Did it see you?”

“I don’t think so, but she is MWPSB. No. Blue eyes.”

“I must see.”, said the third.

“Me too.”, said the second.

“We will.”, said the first, “But I must understand why I can see it.”

“Does it matter?”, asked the third.

“It does to me.”, confirmed the first.

“You lead, we follow, right?”, said the second, “it’s been that way since you found us.”

“Patience. I have a few ideas. But first…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second in a series of smaller, establishing, chapters.


	16. Pulling the hermit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eli gives Nozomi and idea.

“That is an almost unhealthy amount of coffee, you know?”, Nozomi stated.

Eli looked up from her large tea mug holding the dark liquid.

“I do hope that you at least sweeten it, Eli.”, Nozomi sat down opposite her.

In the early mornings the MWPSB cafeteria was quite the hub of activity, but Eli had somehow managed to get a windows seat. The hum of activity was unmistakable, but not overbearing.

Eli looked into the eyes that kept her awake at night searching for… something. A reason why she saw them every night.

“I’m not sleeping well.”, was her low response to the unasked question.

Nozomi regarded her.

“Do you know why?”

“Yes… no… well…”

“And?”

“And what?”, Eli questioned.

“You know, I can tell you that much up front.”, Nozomi continued, “but for some reason, you don't want me to know.”

Eli sipped her coffee.

“You know…”, Nozomi said teasingly, “it’s not nice to keep secrets that affect your work from your colleague.”

“I never…”, Eli protested.

“I understand… you’re not ready to tell me it’s me, right?”, Nozomi winked.

 _She’s good. But two can play at that game._ Eli thought.

“Of course not! It would be unprofessional to keep something from you that affects my performance.”, Eli declared, matching Nozomi’s wink with a smirk.

Stare matched stare. No one wanted to crack.

Eli lasted longer, fuelled by the coffee.

Nozomi sighed and backed down.

“When will you let me in, Eli?”, she asked bluntly.

“Hmm…”, the blonde mused, looking out of the window.

“Well…”, she continued, “you haven’t even taken me out to dinner yet…”

Nozomi perked up.

“A date then. Excellent. And I happen to know that you’re free this evening…”

“Hey wait… I never…”, Eli inserted flustered.

“I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something nice.”, Nozomi looked at her WristCom, “Would you look at that… time to go… hihihi”.

She quickly sprang up and hurried to the elevator, shouting:

“Remember… something nice.”, as she hustled away, boarding the elevator.

Eli looked after her, dumbfounded.

 _Did that just happen?_ she asked herself, staring in disbelief at her coffee.


	17. Combat encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Promises are important.

If she closed her eyes she could almost see them.

Three of them, lurking behind cover, keeping an eye on the door, waiting for her to burst in. Waiting to take her down, to end her. But not now, not today, not ever. She would fight on. She would protect. She would… live.

There were no windows, no alternate routes to getting inside, it was the door… or nothing. Searching for another route would take too long and then it might be all over. She steadied herself, closed her eyes and visualized the room, remembering the standard layout and the surveillance footage and planned her attack. She’d open the door, wait, throw in a distractor and in its’ commotion roll in while shooting target one. It would then be a short came of cat and mouse, she’d fire a few shots to get them to cower down while she leapt up and got target two in the back, while number three would serve as her landing pad before getting shot. It would work, and the hostage would be safe. She put it into action.

She gently rotated the doorknob and the door swung open, a small flurry of shots came from the inside, the light blue of tracer rounds illuminating the walkway. She grabbed a small capsule from her pocked and tossed it into the room, it bounded of the wall and into the centre of the area and exploded in a cacophony of sight and sound as she rolled into the room, keeping her eyes closed. She let of a single shot and heard the satisfying conformation of a hit.

As she opened her eyes, the saw that was where she’d expected to be, raising her weapon over the shield she fired of a few blanks. It was of little consequence if they hit, but during those seconds her enemies were in hiding, she’d sprinted to the wall and was halfway up and kicking herself off by the time anyone could react. She twisted in mid-air, firing a single round, hearing the confirmation as she somersaulted, pulling her legs like a spring storing energy, releasing it as she neared her third target, hearing a dull _thud_ as she landed. She aimed down and loosened a round.

Something hit her left shoulder.

Pain spread through her as the fourth perpetrator emerged from a side room, holding his weapon aimed at her. She quickly turned and knelt as she brought her own arm to bear. A quick succession of pulls of the trigger and it was over.

_BZZZZT._

_Training course complete. Assessment: Satisfactory. You were injured._

Umi sighed and looked at her left shoulder. The stun pellet had impacted her vest and, as a result, had not been as effective, but it had still hurt and made her vulnerable. Only her discipline had held her together. In her eyes: she had failed.

As she walked through the urban assault course, busy now with activity as drones were being replaced and material damage mended, she went through the entire session in her mind, trying to determine how she’d missed the fourth target so completely. Lost in thought, she almost missed Kotori running towards her as she came to the courses beginning.

“How did it go?”, her lover asked.

“You saw the score, didn’t you? I failed.”, Umi said disappointed.

“What? No!”, Kotori stubbornly said, “You cleared it. You passed.”

“No. I got injured.”, Umi said calmly, “I would have run the risk of breaking my promise to you.”

She embraced Kotori.

“For me, there is _nothing_ worse than breaking my word to you.”, Umi said, matter-of-factly.

Kotori leant back so she could see Umi’s face.

“I know,”, Kotori stated, “that you would never intentionally break your promise.” She rested her head on Umi’s shoulder again.

“I know you’ll always return if you can.”

They stood like this for a moment.

“May I take you to dinner?”, Umi asked.

“How? We can’t go outside without an inspector.”

“My shift is over and I feel the need to redeem myself in your eyes. I’ll cook.”

“No need for redemption, but I’d never say no to a date.”, Kotori beamed and leant forward, biting, ever so slightly, on Umi’s ear.

Kotori heard Umi’s breath hitch and breathed in her ear:

“And I know the perfect desert.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The stage is set, the players are engaged. Now it's just time to see if they can dance.


	18. Music for thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Music has always meant the world to Maki. Once it was taken away from her. The consequences of that act till weigh on her.

Music helped her think. And Maki Nishikino had a lot to think about. Her eyes half-closed, her hands flying over the keyboard. A trickle of rain there, a river breaching its’ embankment there, the moon shining through the trees. It was all here. But so were the silent screams, the dribble of thick liquid on the cobblestone. The dead eyes of Hoshi Suzuki, now forever closed. Maki was a professional, criminal coefficient notwithstanding, a dead body to her was normal. But it was also a reminder of failure. She hadn’t been able to protect her. Maki, of course, had not known her, had never met her. Never seen her laugh or smile. But now the possibility had been erased from the world, and Maki knew the world was poorer for it.

In her mind’s eye, she re-examined every small detail of Suzuki’s body, trying to understand the pattern and the purpose as she moved into the second movement of the piece, the hectic cross-rhythms of the beginning forgotten replaced by light, slow, methodical melodies. There was disharmony, not the finely executed cuts of a master, but the stain of a mere imposter, trying to copy a work. They were more than one. No doubt anymore. As the harmonies spun on, creating a soft cloud for the spirit to rest, a memory. Unbidden crept into her consciousness. She was back in the chief’s office after her arrest.

_“Miss Nishikino, you are aware of where you are?”, she’d said._

_Maki had only nodded._

_“Understand that under normal circumstances we would not be having this conversation, in fact, if you don’t answer in a way that I find satisfactory, this conversation will never have taken place. Do you understand?”_

_Again, Maki had nodded._

_“Your parents have tried using their connections to have you thrown in isolation, with no chance of ever seeing the light of day again. They want to forget that you ever existed in this way, much preferring your story to end with an accident._

_I, however, do not hold to that.”_

_For the first time, Maki had looked up into the chief’s steel eyes._

_“What do you intend to do?”, Maki had asked._

_“I want to offer you a deal. I will, admittedly, have most of the advantages, but I can give you something that they never could. A purpose and the possibility to use your intellect. And something else.”_

_Maki had not said anything._

_“I want you to work as a medical lab-tech here at the MWPSB. You’ll hold the rank of enforcer with all that that means. You will be trained.”_

_Maki had not said anything, just stared._

_“You’ll be a free agent as much as an enforcer is ever free and you’ll be expected to follow orders from the inspectors.”_

_The chief had lent forward, adjusting her glasses._

_“But let me make something clear. You run. We will hunt you. But you are not to throw your life away when a criminal attempts to kill you. You will work for society. Do I make myself clear, Miss Nishikino?”_

_Maki had nodded._

_“What will you give me, that only you can give me?”, she finally asked._

_The chief had smiled._

_“When you leave, my aide will take you to your new quarters, should you accept. There you will find out. Don’t ask me what happens if you don’t accept.”_

_“So, I have no choice but to agree?”_

_“You can always choose, Miss Nishikino. But you are a smart woman, I’m sure you’ll make the_ correct _choice.”_

_Maki’s answer had been clear from the second she’d heard about her parents’ actions._

_“I accept.”_

_“Excellent”, the office doors had opened, and an aide had entered._

_“This way please, Miss Nishikino.”_

_The chief seemingly disinterested in her had waved her off and Maki had followed the aide through the corridors and elevators to a room door._

_“This lock will only respond to you and to whoever you might add to it later. We can of course enter at will. Please go inside.”, he’d turned and left her, door slightly ajar._

_She’d stepped in, found an agreeable living area and tucked away in a corner: a grand piano._

_Not just any piano. HER piano._

_Upon recognition, she’d broken down in tears and held on the instrument as the long-lost friend it was._

As she went into the code her mind refocused itself on the task at hand. And she understood. It was not obvious, nothing she would have thought of normally, but now, she had a theory. But a very hard to prove theory.

As she closed her eyes for the last measures, she saw something unexpected. Two rubies, the fire in them slowly fading. Maki didn’t like that.

* * *

Hanayo Koizumi was quiet. She had even powered down her equipment. All just to hear the notes that came from below. Unlike with Rin, she’d never felt comfortable to watch Maki Nishikino, perhaps because she scared her slightly. But now…

Nishikino had said something unexpected… and Hanayo didn’t know how to deal with it. She was glad, but also terrified. She’d been noticed, and a part of her that seldom was on display.

The music stopped, but she wanted more. Maybe she could ask?

With practised hand she turn on her terminal and send a message:

_Miss Nishikino?_

She waited.

The _typing_ indicator lit up on her screen.

_Yes?_

She typed another message, deleted it, retyped the same message, deleted it again, then typed a slightly different message.

_Can I talk to you?_

The answer came back almost as quick as she regretted sending it.

_Of course._

Hanayo lent forward and touched a control on her tablet.

“Miss Nishikino?”

“Please, call me Maki.”

“Alright. That was a wonderful piece.”

“Oh, you mean the piano? It’s.. nothing special. Did I disturb you?”

“No, not at all. I… It helps me focus”, she lied. In truth it made her stop everything just to be able to listen.

“I…”, Hanayo continued,” keep wondering what it would sound like… if I’m there.”

Maki, didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“You know, “, Maki said, “you could always come by?”

“No… I couldn’t possibly… I… I… people scare me… many people scare me.”

“Calm down Koizumi. It would be only you. No one else. I could even make sure you can open the door yourself if you like.”

Hanayo thought about this for a moment.

“Maybe then… but… I don’t know… Rin…”

Maki voice turned upset.

“Did that cat girl do something to you?”

“Ahh.. no…. yes… nothing bad…”

“You don’t make sense, please explain.”

Hanayo explained about the letter and the subsequent talk with Rin.

Make thought for a moment, before delivering her conclusion.

“I think Hoshizora likes you.”

“What?”, Hanayo exclaimed, “but how, she doesn’t know me, I... I…”

“Calm down. Now,”, Maki put the pieces together, “she admitted it directly, she offered to keep it a secret for no compensation and she complemented you. And most of all she said she wanted to her you every day. Right?”

Hanayo was quiet for a moment.

“Well yes…”, she stated.

“A person told me once: _Love is a strange thing._ Maybe this is one of these strange things. She won’t hurt you. Of that I’m quite certain, you hear talk in the cafeteria about her straightforwardness and principles often enough.”

“Ohh… oh well.”

Silence encroached on the pair.

“Would you like me to play some more, so you can listen through the link. Doesn’t beat being here, but is better than listening through the walls, I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to be…”, Hanayo began.

“You won’t.”, Maki cut her off, “I need to think anyway. Playing helps me.”.

Maki didn’t wait for an answer but launched herself into her music, her hands moving in sync up and down the keyboard. As she closed her eyes the same theory came back, further fleshing itself out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a bit of a block, another fic and some music got me back in the groove.
> 
> Even though it probably impossible to guess... what do you think she plays?


	19. A 'date' date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When is a date a 'date' and when it is a date. Eli doesn't know what would be less fear inducing.

Eli viewed herself in the projection mirror, dread slowly setting in.

 _Wear something nice_.

What did that even mean?

She’d spent most of the time since she got off-shift looking through her wardrobe, both physical and virtual, debating with herself what _nice_ was. If the date simply were two colleagues having a meal, talking about work in a more casual environment or if it was a date that had some romantical overtones to it.

Dressing for the first situation was easy. Her standard suit and coat would work wonders on her figure, but a romantic date. It had been a while, and then mostly out of curtesy, the guy had held no interest for her. But this Toujo with her emerald eyes…

Eli rapidly shook her head.

_Get it together, she’s my subordinate. I could be taken off the case._

“You have a visitor.”, the holographic bear announced, showing a projected image of Nozomi Toujo, waiting in the lobby of the apartment building.

Eli stared at the projection, or more accurately, at Toujo and what she was wearing, as it left no doubt as to the purpose of the ‘date’.

“Find me something that matches the clothes of the person on the monitor. Preferences towards light blue colours.”

“Just a moment.”, the bear said joyfully, “Analysis complete. I have these selections for you.”

The choices fanned out over the mirror projection, super-imposing themselves on her image.

One stood out, it reminded her of something she’d worn a long time ago. A classic.

“That one.”, she pointed, “How much time do I have?”

“Miss Toujo is 10 minutes before the appointed time. I’ve asked her to wait while you get ready.”

“Do we have enough time?”

“No. But an extra five minutes is socially acceptable. The fabricator is already working on it. It will be ready in eight minutes.”

“Ok, give me a short relaxation program while I wait.”, she hoped she would be less nervous after it.

* * *

Nozomi raised her head as she heard the elevator opened, training her gaze towards the sound. And she was not disappointed. The dress Eli had chosen was indeed _nice_ , no, it was fantastic to a fault, the long slits perfectly accentuating her physique and the colour pulling towards Eli’s ocean blue eyes. The waist-jacket she wore over her shoulders gave her a very powerful vibe.

“Now, don’t you look absolutely fantastic. I thought I was picking up a grumpy inspector, not a fantasy princess.”, Nozomi said with a wink.

Eli blushed uncontrollably.

“Thank you…”, Eli said, almost whispering the words, looking down at the floor.

“You should dress like this more often, you’ll have no shortage of suitors.”, Nozomi teased.

“I… I… have no interest in that…”

“Pity, I certainly would wait in line”, Nozomi said with a smirk as Eli raised her head, eyes wide.

Nozomi bowed and gestured towards the door.

“Shall we, Miss Eli?”


	20. Showtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt is on.

As the day went from afternoon to late evening, light faded and turned alight. A light breeze was filtering through the streets, the late autumn air carrying moisture everywhere. All this didn’t matter to Midori Kadagawa. All she wanted was to get out of these alleys. She jogged, casting a glance behind her every now and then, seeing the hint of a grey cloak as she turned corners, getting even more lost in the labyrinth of small streets. Suddenly she collided with something… soft. She staggered backwards, almost losing her footing. She looked up only to see a figure, clad in a grey cloak. The hood was up, but she saw intense eyes glaring at her. She started to back away.

“Where are you going my pretty?” a voice behind her asked.

Midori turned to see the figure that had been following her. She also saw a glint of a reflection from an object in figures hand.

She screamed.

* * *

The klaxons sang their song on the wrist-coms of the members of Division L. As each one acknowledged the call, field clothes and vests were donned, and labs went into active operation. Honoka Kosaka made a group announcement.

“Cameras got a hit on an attack in progress in a district not too far away from here. Drones are currently reacquiring the area and have locked down the block. All enforcers, please report to the paddy wagon, I’ll be taking the car. Toujo and Ayase are on their way. That is all.”

Honoka sprinted through the corridors, ducking other civil servants to get to the elevator.

 _We have you_ , she thought.

As she reached the garage, she saw the paddy wagon already leaving. She ran to her car, got in and sped up the ramp, running the car on manual.

She reached the dial for the car-com.

“Minami, Koizumi. Please make sure everyone as accurate maps of the area and keep an eye on them.”

“Got it.”, Kotori replied.

Seconds later, everyone’s wrist-coms beeped with the new information.

Honoka’s car-com signalled and incoming call. She accepted. The voice of Eli Ayase came through.

“We’re making our way there too. It’s a fair bit away but commence the operation. Be careful. If they can avoid the scanners, they might be able to make life difficult for us. And if Nishikino is correct with her theory they might even be more than two.”

“Roger that. It will be fine, don’t worry. We’ll get them.”, said Honoka in a cheerful voice.

“We’ll try to hurry.”, that was not Ayase’s voice but Toujo’s.

“Koizumi will handle communications. See you at the scene.”

She was four minutes out now. _Showtime_.

* * *

Inside the paddy wagon, the four enforces sat in silence and relative darkness, the feeling of acceleration almost dampened by the heavy vehicle. Turns in return felt as though they would throw them out of their respective seats. After a while, the lights brightened slightly, and they felt the big door at the aft of the section unlocking.

They had done this enough times to do the drill in their sleep. As the gangway extended, they started walking, single file, towards the small cart containing the tools of their trade. The large gun very light for the size and power it possessed and activated as they touched it.

_Activating Dominator: Portable Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System. Now Online…_

Honoka looked over the four enforcers, standing under the open sky, waiting to be set loose.

“Alright, you all got the layout of this area.”, she pointed to a holographic map being projected from a table, “The cameras got the hit here, “, she pointed, “but the air-borne cameras haven’t seen anything since then. We will try to support you as best we can, and the lab is online and patched into everything here.”

Everyone nodded.

“Nishikino, you and Yazawa are Taiko 1 and 2, respectively. Hoshizora and Sonoda, 3 and 4 respectively. Yes Yazawa?”

“Can I be with…”, Nico started to protest.

“No. Ok, let’s get going. We might be able to save a life tonight.”

“Right.”, they all said in unison and jogged to into the labyrinth of small houses and alleys.

* * *

As Maki and Nico stalked though the small streets, Maki kept wondering how she could get the shorter woman to open up. Every time she looked into her assigned partners face, the two ruby-coloured eyes brought the vision of the rubies on fire fading back to her. She would not let that happen, no matter what Yazawa thought of her.

“Nishikino”, Nico hissed.

“Maki!”, she hissed back.

“Whatever. Look there.”, Nico pointed to an escalator leading down to a local subway station.

When Maki looked in the direction, she saw aperiodic flashes of light coming from the area below. She nodded to Nico, waving her Dominator in the direction of the entrance. Nico nodded and they proceeded towards and down the motionless escalator.

* * *

Umi and Rin split up almost as soon as they were out of sight of the inspector. Rin had sad that she’d go on top of the houses to get a better view. Umi had simply nodded, confident in both her and Rin’s abilities to manage on their own.

The area consisted of smaller houses where the over crowdedness of the city had forced the area to become like a big jigsaw of elevated areas tied together by small provisional bridges and ladders. Perfect for anyone to hide, so searching on several different levels at once.

Umi’s senses, sharpened by years of training and her own regime, listened for sounds that didn’t match the environment. Her eyes scanned for signs of disturbance. The minimal headset enhanced sounds instead of dampening them and she heard Kotori’s breathing on the other side of the line.

It was heavy, focused, but Umi knew she was worried.

 _I will come home._ , Umi thought.

* * *

Rin climbed the balconies and windows until she arrived at the roofs. Jumping limberly between the buildings and landing without a sound. Her keen vision scanned around her, looking for anything that felt out of place. As she went from perch to perch, one thing became clear to Rin. Time was running out, if it hadn’t already. There, on the walkway of one of the higher sections, she saw a glint of… something reflecting light. She carefully climbed and made her way to it.

She dropped down from the roof and vaulted silently to the ground. She bent down next to what looked like a pendant, even in the low light she could see what substance had stained it. She touched her wrist-com.

“This is Rin. I’ve found a pendant. It has blood on it. Kayo-chin, please get a drone to secure the site while I continue my pursuit.”

She looked around. She saw tracks, someone had run from here, fast.

“Someone ran away from here. Very fast, probably the victim. I’ll follow.”

Rin stood up, pulled the Dominator from its’ holder and started hunched to follow the tracks.

* * *

As Umi silently crept through the alleys, avoiding all noise and sticking to the shadow, she suddenly heard steps. Slow steady steps. No hurry or uncertainty in them. She’d heard Rin’s status report and knew that it could not be the orange haired girl. The steps came closer, Umi quickly decided that a confrontation in close quarters was to be avoided so she slid out of the alley, away from the sound.

She kept in the shadows, peering into the alley that divided her from the steps, only to see a woman passing the alley, apparently non to phased about being in a crime scene. Umi slid back into the alley, working her way to the other side and exited just as out of the corner of her eye she saw the figure turn into an opening and disappear. Umi started to walk towards where she’d seen the woman disappear.

* * *

Rin rounded a corner and came face to face with a dead body. She instinctively jumped backwards, slamming into the walkway fence. Steading her nerves, she saw almost the same as she’d seen in the pictures that had been attached to the field report earlier that day. It wasn’t pretty, but it was messier, there was blood and grime on the clothes. No, this was different. She hesitantly went closer. Yes, this was different. This was… almost brutal. She keyed her com.

“This is Rin. I found a body. The way she is, I’m quite certain it’s the victim. But this one is different. There is blood on her clothes, and they are torn, not cut. It’s messy.” Rin continued to look at the body, noting small things she saw.

* * *

Maki and Nico slowly made their way through the subway station. It was deserted and is disrepair having gone unused for years. The tunnels were probably till open so any perpetrator could have fled through them.

Arriving at the platform, Nico jumped down to the tracks. She’d ignored all of Maki’s attempts at conversation. She didn’t need to talk to a princess that got special treatment. She did not.

Maki gently stepped down into the track well, now devoid of anything but gravel and kept her senses alert. Nico lowered her Dominator.

“There is nothing here, your highness. If they were here they went through the tunnels and got away. Damn.”. She kicked a rock past Maki into the darkness. Maki was about to admonish Nico, when she heard a click from the direction where Nico had kicked the rock and saw sparkles of light. Even without thinking she knew what those reflections were. Nico would later only be able to tell that Maki had moved quickly in front of her, knocking her to the ground and that when she got up, it had already happened.

Maki barely felt the impact. The three projectiles arrived virtually at the same time and easily penetrated the vest, designed for a different kind of stopping power. The pain she experienced was numbed by her adrenalin. She was still standing, waving slightly backwards and forwards. She heard Nico’s sharp voice saying something, probably because she’d been knocked down. Maki looked at her left shoulder. Three shafts, sticking out of her vest at different lengths were embedded in it, the area around them, slowing becoming darker.

She felt hot, she started to sweat, her vision started to become blurred. She guessed she was going into chock, maybe even worse. Nico had gotten up by now and shouted her name, but there was something wrong. She shouted _Maki_ not _Nishikino._ Maki’s legs could no longer support her and fell away under her.

 _Not long now_ , Maki thought as she sat on her knees.

Maki started to fall backwards, but she didn’t hit the ground. Why?

She became conscious of arms holding her. She felt safe. She smiled and closed her eyes.

“What the hell are you smiling about? Open your eyes. My god. It looks bad. What can I do? Don’t you go and fucking die on me!”, Nico spoke harshly, eyes belying her sorrow, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What did you do that for? I’m always mean to you. Why save me? I’m nobody. I’m nothing…”

Maki reached up her left arm to Nico, the pain causing her to grimace. Her hand touched Nico’s cheek, making the former look at Maki with wide ruby eyes. Maki smiled.

“Because it was right. And because…”, Maki felt she was slipping, “you’re one… of my…”, Maki’s voice grew weaker, “favourite… things.”

Maki exhaled, her hand dropped from Nico’s cheek and she closed her eyes. Nico screamed:

“MAKI!”

* * *

The stun bolt hit Umi square on the spine. For her, everything went white and fuzzy as her nervous system overloaded. The last thing she saw and heard were two green eyes regarding her from under a hood accompanied by Kotori’s shriek in her ear. She fell face forward onto the street.

* * *

Hanayo saw it first, a large door moving towards Rin. She stretched out her hand to engage the voice channel, but something stopped her, she froze up, watching her monitors in panic as she saw the events unfolding on the screen.

* * *

Rin saw the alert on her wrist-com first, then she saw the door moving rapidly towards her, she had nowhere to escape but over the fence. She rolled over and fell, seeing the door smash and splinter. She impacted with something, rolled away, and fell further. There was a sickening crack as bones were broken as Rin impacted with another roof. Finally, she landed on the street, her legs giving way from the pain as she landed. She collapsed onto the ground.

* * *

Eli and Nozomi made their way through the barricade only to arrive at a white-faced Inspector Kosaka. Over her shoulder they could hear the chime of alerts, but Honoka’s face spoke of the gravity of the situation.

“They’re all down.”, she said, voice trembling.

* * *

The cold glow of neon and environmental holography spread out everywhere. Advertisements for therapy, stimulant and relaxitives littered every billboard, the crowds barely noticing them or even her as she strode with determined steps through the throng of people.

With the rain no longer falling, she had removed the hood and now walked head exposed through the streets, noticed by no automated system nor obtrusive scanner. She would be labelled as an anomaly in the system, a bug that had yet to be purged.

She’d seen her again, the blue-eyed woman with the orange hair. She’d heard her name. And now she was certain that she worked for the MWPSB. She would find her, befriend her and find out why she could see her like she did.

She kept walking through the masses of people, invisible and silent with a small smile that disproved her prior actions. The only thing anyone would remember, if anything, would be her eyes. Her sparkling, green eyes.

**END OF ACT 1**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes act 1.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story so far and are looking forward to more. :) It has certainly been a fun challenge to write and plan this. 
> 
> Any constructive or inquisitive comments are always welcome. Tips for improvement of course too. :)
> 
> Now I just need to finish writing the other acts.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first AU I started to write, but another got published first.
> 
> I find AUs very hard to write so should you have any suggestions or tips, I'll gladly take any advice I can get.


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